]]>Multifamily marketers are asking: How can we use marketing automation for multifamily? We will answer this question in a series of posts. Let’s get the conversation started by covering the following topics in this post:

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8 min read

Background

Companies in industries such as technology and telecommunications realized that they had a problem.

Their prospects were researching online and going to their competitors. All this even before the sales agents got a chance to talk to the prospect! It was clear that these companies needed to transform their sales & marketing operations. They needed to rethink how they attracted, nurtured and converted these digital prospects. Their solution: marketing automation.

The multifamily industry is going through a similar transformation.

It is now time for the Multifamily Industry to adopt, exploit and excel in Marketing Automation.

The good news is that we have new sources of leads. To name just a few, we now have Apartments.com, Apartment Guide and Zillow as major sources of our leads.

The bad news is that the quality of the leads has dropped as ILSs make it easier for prospects to find apartments. Worse, our manual lead-to-lease processes are not built to handle such digital prospects.

We will explore how marketing automation for multifamily can help.

What is Marketing Automation?

There are as many definitions of marketing automation as companies in this business. Each business defines marketing automation to match their perspective. This is somewhat like the 6 blind men and their descriptions of an elephant. To be clear, this does not make these definitions wrong. It is just that the reality is a mix of all those perspectives.

It’s Software

The following definition emphasizes the software of marketing automation.

Marketing Automation refers to software that automates your marketing for you. The software is designed to help you prioritize and execute your marketing tasks in a more streamlined and efficient way.” — Hubspot

To be realistic, the software cannot do everything. It is only as good as the content, processes and channels defined by the marketers. But, the presence of marketing automation allows marketers to create sophisticated, multi-channel strategies. And, marketers find themselves capable of bringing sophisticated strategies and tactics to life.

Said another way, there is no marketing automation without software!

It’s Personalized, Behavior-Triggered Content

The following definition gives importance to content in marketing automation.

Marketing Automation is software that allows your business to nurture leads and convert them into customers through personalized, behavior-triggered content. It allows marketers to automate tasks to improve efficiency and speed while also measuring results and improving ROI — Mystique

Content is king for industries such as Technology and Professional Services. But, it is difficult to see similar content being relevant for the apartments industry.

What is relevant for the multifamily industry are the other parts of the definition:

Marketing automation for multifamily converts a lead to lease using personalized and behavior-triggered actions.

Marketing automation improves efficiency, speed, tracking and ROI of the lead to lease process. As we will see later, these benefits are universal across all industries.

It’s Artificial Intelligence

This definition emphasizes the Artificial Intelligence aspect:

Marketing Automation is the use of artificial intelligence to gather data and determine the best course of action for your marketing campaigns.” — Boston Logic

This definition emphasizes the key role played by data and analytics. Marketing automation for multifamily can use this intelligence for many purposes:

Segment and score your leads.

Pick the right action for each lead. Should you introduce the prospect to the neighborhood or send an offer?

Pick the right time to send a message, for example an offer, to a lead.

Focus on the most promising leads. Alert agents about leads that are checking the prices of different units.

Focus on campaigns with the best ROI. Is your Google Maps campaign getting you good quality leads? Maybe you should spend more on it.

Why do marketers like marketing automation?

Over the years, marketers have been repeatedly surveyed about their views on marketing automation. In this section, we get insights into why so many marketers are in love with marketing automation.

#1 Benefit

For most marketers, the benefit of marketing automation is simple. It improves the quantity and quality of leads.

You can use marketing automation for multifamily to increase the number of contactable leads. For example, marketing automation best practices keep guest cards as short as possible. You can then progressively ask for more information as the prospect engages with you. But, meanwhile you have expanded your bank of leads to nurture.

You can also use marketing automation to increase the quality of leads. For instance, send your leads a welcome drip that informs them about your community. If you find a prospect clicking thru and spending time on the website, they deserve a call from the agent.

Most Compelling Reason

While sales & marketing are glad to see an increase in the quantity and quality of leads, the CMO or COO needs more. The most compelling reason for a CMO/COO to invest in marketing automation is to increase revenues. Generating high quality leads is a close second.

Increase in Sales Revenues

The above revenue increases are reported from almost all industries and sectors. Again, this is good news as we start adapting and adopting marketing automation for multifamily.

Increase in Leads and Conversions

The next metric explains why companies see such large increases in revenue. Companies not only see an 80% increase in leads, but also see a 71% increase in the conversions. In other words, marketing automation is not a one-trick pony. It improves all stages of the conversion funnel.

As multifamily marketers, we can adopt these best practices of marketing automation for multifamily. This will boost results in all phases of the lead to lease funnel: number of leads, number of tours and number of signed leases.

Lower Cost per Lead

As companies improve the efficiency of each step of the conversion funnel, they reduce the time and effort to get a sales-ready lead. In fact, companies report that they can get 50% more leads at 33% less cost.

Faster Sales Cycles

Marketing automation tools get the prospect ready for an agent. They track and score each prospect for their readiness. Once the prospect is ready for an agent, the agent is in a much better position to close. This reduces the sales cycle time.

Marketing Automation for Multifamily: A Definition

What does this mean for the multifamily industry?

Let’s start by defining marketing automation for multifamily. Our definition takes a broader view of marketing automation than other vendor-specific definitions. At the same time, our definition focuses on issues unique to the multifamily industry.

3 Modern Technologies

In this definition, 3 modern technologies drive marketing automation for multifamily:

Automation: Software can automate repetitive and routine agent tasks. This leaves more time for the agent to develop a one-on-one relationships with prospects.

Data Intelligence: Data & analytics allow us to understand each prospect’s needs. We can use this intelligence to move the prospect along the lead to lease funnel. For instance, if a prospect has searched for a 1 bedroom apartment, we can alert the agent to call the prospect.

Workflow Co-ordination: A prospect’s journey from a lead to lease touches many channels. They could be searching the website, clicking on an email offer, or scheduling a tour. Or, they could be talking to an agent, taking a tour of the community, or signing a lease. The software co-ordinates actions on all these channels. And, allows the agent to remain informed of the progress of the prospect.

3 Primary Benefits

The above definition also focuses on 3 primary benefits. Marketers who have adopted marketing automation see these as the biggest benefits. Also, these benefits are the basis for the positive ROI demanded by the CMO and COO.

Higher quality leads: The system can observe the prospect to understand their level of interest. If a prospect is not ready, marketing automation will nurture them. If the prospect is ready, the system can hand over the prospect for the agent to close the lead.

Improve the lead-to-lease experience: Any experience on any channel influences the prospect’s propensity to sign the lease. Was it easy to schedule a tour on their phone? Are they getting too many irrelevant messages from the property? Did they get an offer that pushed them over the edge to sign a lease? Marketing automation designs each experience to maximize conversion on that channel.

Marketing Automation for Multifamily: Key Takeaways

Marketing automation has proven itself in other industries. It is time for multifamily to adopt it’s technology, processes and best practices.

Marketing automation uses a mix of modern technologies to deliver its benefits. These technologies include software automation, data intelligence and workflow management.

Marketing automation for multifamily will improve every step of the lead-to-lease funnel. This means more leads, more tours and more leases.

Marketing automation will have a major impact on the multifamily business. When implemented well, we can expect it to reduce costs, reduce time to lease, and show a positive ROI.

Data intelligence, analytics and dashboards are the basis of marketing automation for multifamily. Marketing managers, CMOs and COOs will be able to watch their business like never before.

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As a multifamily business, have you automated parts of your lead to lead process? What benefits do you see?

]]>http://hy.ly/blog/marketing-automation-for-multifamily-getting-started/feed/0Best Reads for Multifamily Marketers for 05/06/2016http://hy.ly/blog/best-reads-for-multifamily-marketers-for-05062016/
http://hy.ly/blog/best-reads-for-multifamily-marketers-for-05062016/#respondFri, 06 May 2016 05:00:56 +0000http://hy.ly/?p=3501(The cutting edge of the marketing technology and multifamily marketing is being redefined. Here are some of the best articles we read this week on these topics. We hope you, as a multifamily marketer on the leading edge, will find these useful. — Munish) Lead Nurturing There is a better way to conversions than […]

]]>(The cutting edge of the marketing technology and multifamily marketing is being redefined. Here are some of the best articles we read this week on these topics. We hope you, as a multifamily marketer on the leading edge, will find these useful. — Munish)

Lead Nurturing

There is a better way to conversions than demanding your leasing prospects “Apply Now”. This may be unconventional, but maybe we should stop thinking about conversions. Instead, we should start creating openings for conversations. For example, invite them into a conversation using your newsletter, or Facebook, or Instagram. Let them participate and get to know you better before you ask them to sign your lease. ➺ How to Get Conversions From Conversations by Today’s Eggspert

City Planning

Which are the nation’s most walkable cities? According to WalkScore, New York, San Francisco and Boston are the nation’s most walk able cities. And, things are getting even better — all of the top 10 cities improved their scores last year. Omaha – NE, St. Louis – MO and Denver – CO topped the list of cities that increased their WalkScore by the most number of points. ➺ The Nation’s Most-Walkable Cities Got Even More Walkable in 2016 by Amy Musser

Rental Industry

What is the effect of Airbnb on the Rental Market? The hotel industry is not too happy with a lower priced alternative available for tourists and travelers. But, do the rents in a neighborhood with increased Airbnb activity also go down? If this study in San Francisco is representative, a 13.8% increase in Airbnb listings resulted in a 10.9% increase in rents for shared rooms, private rooms and entire homes. ➺ Effect of Airbnb on The Rental Market by Property Matrix

Social Marketing

Have you tapped into the Facebook ad ecosystem? Facebook accounts for 65.5% of all 2015 social ad spend. It’s reach and advertising platform offer a wide range of options. Lead ads allow you to collect lead data without a landing page. Instagram and carousel ads allow you to show case photographs from you community. Remarketing ads allow you to target prospects who have visited your site. Finally, you get excellent reporting options that segment your ad performance by age group, gender, device and region. ➺ 10 Must-Know Facebook Ads Tips & Features by Jacob Young

]]>http://hy.ly/blog/best-reads-for-multifamily-marketers-for-05062016/feed/0Best Reads for Multifamily Marketers for 04/29/2016http://hy.ly/blog/best-reads-for-multifamily-marketers-for-04292016/
http://hy.ly/blog/best-reads-for-multifamily-marketers-for-04292016/#respondFri, 29 Apr 2016 04:46:22 +0000http://hy.ly/?p=3480(The cutting edge of the marketing technology and multifamily marketing is being redefined. Here are some of the best articles we read this week on these topics. We hope you, as a multifamily marketer on the leading edge, will find these useful. — Munish) Email Marketing Mobile Email Opens were 55% of all opens in […]

]]>(The cutting edge of the marketing technology and multifamily marketing is being redefined. Here are some of the best articles we read this week on these topics. We hope you, as a multifamily marketer on the leading edge, will find these useful. — Munish)

Multifamily Marketing

Are you ready for the new Google PPC Layouts? Google is phasing out the PPC ads on the right hand side and giving more prominence to PPC ads on top. PPC ads on top get 14 times (!) the click thru than PPC ads on the right. And, given the rush of summer time movers, this is a perfect opportunity to increase the visibility of your community. ↝ Can an SEM Campaign Increase Lease Activity for Your Property? by Larissa Steele

]]>http://hy.ly/blog/best-reads-for-multifamily-marketers-for-04292016/feed/0Best Reads for Multifamily Marketers for 04/22/2016http://hy.ly/blog/best-reads-for-multifamily-marketers-for-04222016-3/
http://hy.ly/blog/best-reads-for-multifamily-marketers-for-04222016-3/#respondFri, 22 Apr 2016 04:22:50 +0000http://hy.ly/?p=3442(The cutting edge of the marketing technology and multifamily marketing is being redefined. Here are some of the best articles we read this week on these topics. We hope you, as a multifamily marketer on the leading edge, will find these useful. — Munish) Multifamily ROI You want to improve your conversions, but where […]

]]>(The cutting edge of the marketing technology and multifamily marketing is being redefined. Here are some of the best articles we read this week on these topics. We hope you, as a multifamily marketer on the leading edge, will find these useful. — Munish)

Multifamily ROI

You want to improve your conversions, but where do you start? First, make sure you have tracking systems in place for all touch points. Second, watch your analytics like a hawk. Third, act upon your insights to promote touch points that are working and drop the touch points that are not. ↝ How to Improve Your Conversion Rate By 50% in One Day by Jacob Baadsgaard

Multifamily Finance

International Investments in US Apartments grows by 180% in 2015. This growth signals optimism about the current yield of the multifamily sector in US. Investments from Europe and Middle East alone were $3.2billion!. ↝ Multifamily Investments Grow by 180% by Les Shaver

Content Marketing

Improve your content marketing with these 11 tools. From ideation to distribution, content marketing requires time and effort. These tools will save you time and improve the quality of your marketing efforts: Feedly, Trendspottr, Ease.ly, Canva, Hemmingway Editor, StayFocused, Tomato Timer, Buffer, Trello, ContentMarketer.io, Narrow.io. ↝ 11 Tools That Will Save You Time with Content Marketing by Neil Patel

Multifamily Emails

Your CTA should speak to your prospect’s needs, not yours. For example, instead of a CTA that asks them “Sign Up” for your newsletter, how about a CTA that allows your prospects to “Get Special Offers”. Notice the difference? “Sign Up” is what you want them to do, but “Get Special Offers” is what they want. The result is the same — they have signed up for your newsletter! ↝ How to Write Highly Compelling Calls-to-Action for Email by John Bonini

]]>http://hy.ly/blog/best-reads-for-multifamily-marketers-for-04222016-3/feed/0Best Reads for Multifamily Marketers – 04/15/2016http://hy.ly/blog/best-reads-for-multifamily-marketers-04152016/
http://hy.ly/blog/best-reads-for-multifamily-marketers-04152016/#respondThu, 14 Apr 2016 01:31:03 +0000http://hy.ly/?p=3320(The cutting edge of the marketing technology and multifamily marketing is being redefined. Here are some of the best articles we read this week on these topics. We hope you, as a multifamily marketer on the leading edge, will find these useful. — Munish) Sales & Marketing Sales and Marketing working together leads to […]

]]>(The cutting edge of the marketing technology and multifamily marketing is being redefined. Here are some of the best articles we read this week on these topics. We hope you, as a multifamily marketer on the leading edge, will find these useful. — Munish)

Analytics

Measuring and improving customer attention is a better path to increased conversions. As competition heats up and digital marketers vie to engage online users, tried and tested metrics such as PageViews, Impressions and Visitors are throwaway metrics. Measuring and improving customer attention is a better path to increased conversions. ↝ How To Turn Leads Into Customers In 2016 by Neil Patel

Design

The responsibility of human error lies with the design(er) and not the human. In this sense, both the design of everyday things and the design of visualizations have a lot in common. Both should make it easy for a user to understand and discover possible actions. And, both should be designed for pleasure and emotion. ↝ The Design of Everyday Visualisations by Ben Jones.

]]>http://hy.ly/blog/best-reads-for-multifamily-marketers-04152016/feed/0Who are the Winners in the Just Released 2016 NMHC Top 50 Managers?http://hy.ly/blog/who-are-the-winners-in-the-just-released-2016-nmhc-top-50-managers/
http://hy.ly/blog/who-are-the-winners-in-the-just-released-2016-nmhc-top-50-managers/#respondTue, 12 Apr 2016 04:55:42 +0000http://hy.ly/?p=3330Introduction The NMHC just released its 2016 rankings for Multifamily in various categories: We relished the opportunity to download the raw data from NMHC, put it in Google Sheets, and play around with it to compare the 2016 rankings with that of 2015. As a tiny explainer, NMHC ranks companies in the Multifamily industry every […]

The NMHC just released its 2016 rankings for Multifamily in various categories: We relished the opportunity to download the raw data from NMHC, put it in Google Sheets, and play around with it to compare the 2016 rankings with that of 2015.

As a tiny explainer, NMHC ranks companies in the Multifamily industry every year in various categories: Owners, Managers, Developers and Contractors. These rankings are now followed keenly by the insiders in the industry and provide insights into the size and scale of not just the multifamily operators but also the multifamily industry in general.

Highlights of NMHC Top 50 Managers

Top 10 NMHC Managers for 2016

Here are the Top 10 Property Managers for 2016. These companies have consistently maintained their position in the top 10-15 for the past 5 years.

Greystar has had a major growth spurt recently and has almost quadrupled the number of units it manages in the past 5 years.

The first thing that strikes you is that Greystar is huge. Really huge! Greystar is not only number 1 on this list, but also comfortably bigger than number 2. It is two and a half times its next competitor Lincoln Property Company and manages nearly 250,000 more units than Lincoln. Greystar has had a major growth spurt recently and has almost quadrupled the number of units it manages in the past 5 years.

PROPERTY MANAGER

RANK (2016)

RANK (2015)

UNITS (2016)

UNITS (2015)

Greystar Real Estate Partners, LLC

1

1

413,679

393,079

Lincoln Property Company

2

2

165,251

164,416

Pinnacle

3

3

134,725

131,790

Equity Residential

4

4

109,540

109,225

WinnCompanies

5

5

98,817

96,955

FPI Management, Inc.

6

8

98,401

76,500

Alliance Residential Company

7

7

88,028

82,123

Apartment Management Consultants, LLC

8

10

80,195

71,483

MAA

9

6

79,496

82,316

AvalonBay Communities, Inc.

10

9

73,944

72,323

Biggest Gains in Manager Rank from 2015 to 2016

The Lynd Company saw the biggest jump in its rank, +13 points from being the last on the list in 2015 to 37 this year.

These are the companies that showed the biggest gains in rank from 2015 to 2016. The Lynd Company saw the biggest jump in its rank, +13 points from being the last on the list in 2015 to 37 this year. Additionally, Lynd increased its properties by almost 27% in just one year.

PROPERTY MANAGER

RANK (2016)

RANK (2015)

RANK CHANGE

The Lynd Company

37

50

+13

RAM Partners, LLC

35

45

+10

The Michaels Organization

21

26

+5

Fairfield Residential Company LLC

14

18

+4

Village Green

28

32

+4

Weidner Apartment Homes

26

29

+3

Morgan Properties

38

41

+3

Biggest Gains in Units Managed from 2015 to 2016

These are the companies that showed the biggest jump in the total number of units under management. FPI Management leads the list with an increase of 21,901 units from last year. And, while Greystar doubled the number of units from 2014 to 2015, it came in 2nd this year by adding 20,600 units.

PROPERTY MANAGER

RANK (2016)

UNITS (2016)

UNITS (2015)

CHANGE IN UNITS

FPI Management, Inc.

6

98,401

76,500

+21,901

Greystar Real Estate Partners, LLC

1

413,679

393,079

+20,600

Apartment Management Consultants, LLC

8

80,195

71,483

+8,712

Steadfast Companies ✧

34

34,806

26,529

+8,277

Monarch Investment and Management Group ✧

48

28,547

20,520

+8,027

✧ New in NMHC Top Managers 2016

New Entrants to the NMHC Top 50 Managers 2016 Ranking

We had 7 new entrants to the NMHC Top 50 Managers list this year. GoldOller and Steadfast made impressive entries jumping from outside the Top 50 in 2015 to take on positions 30 and 34, respectively, in 2016.

PROPERTY MANAGER

RANK (2016)

UNITS (2016)

GoldOller Real Estate Companies

30

40,820

Steadfast Companies

34

34,806

Cortland Partners, LLC

41

32,241

Kettler Management

44

30,828

ZRS Management, LLC

45

30,410

Monarch Investment and Management Group

48

28,547

Pegasus Residential

50

27,634

Dropouts from NMHC Top 50 Managers 2016 Ranking

Finally, we have the following who dropped out of the Top 50 Managers list. The most significant of these is Home Properties Inc., which was acquired by Lone Star Fund in 2015.

PROPERTY MANAGER

RANK (2015)

UNITS (2015)

Home Properties, Inc.

27

42,107

U.S. Residential Group LLC

31

38,942

Harbor Group International

37

33,235

JRK Property Holdings, Inc.

40

31,852

CompassRock Real Estate LLC

42

30,188

LivCor, LLC

46

29,000

Orion Real Estate Services, Inc.

48

28,214

Cottonwood Residential

49

27,711

Conclusion

The NMHC Manager Rankings in 2016 saw some significant movement and at the same time displayed consistency.

The NMHC Manager Rankings in 2016 saw some significant movement and at the same time displayed consistency. The top 10 property managers maintained their spots within the top 10 although there was some shifting a rank or two above and below. The top 5 ranks however remained unchanged from 2015 to 2016. The significant movement is seen in the bottom half of the rankings where almost eight property managers were dropped from the list and seven new companies were added on to the list. The most significant of these is GoldOller Real Estate which made a straight jump from not making the list last year to rank 30 this year.

]]>http://hy.ly/blog/who-are-the-winners-in-the-just-released-2016-nmhc-top-50-managers/feed/0Best Reads for Multifamily Marketers – 04/08/2016http://hy.ly/blog/best-reads-for-multifamily-marketers-04082016/
http://hy.ly/blog/best-reads-for-multifamily-marketers-04082016/#respondFri, 08 Apr 2016 16:43:26 +0000http://hy.ly/?p=3271(The cutting edge of the marketing technology and multifamily marketing is being redefined. Here are some of the best articles we read this week on these topics. We hope you, as a multifamily marketer on the leading edge, will find these useful. — Munish) Psychology of Marketing Connecting emotionally with your readers is key to […]

]]>(The cutting edge of the marketing technology and multifamily marketing is being redefined. Here are some of the best articles we read this week on these topics. We hope you, as a multifamily marketer on the leading edge, will find these useful. — Munish)

Psychology of Marketing

Connecting emotionally with your readers is key to a successful marketing campaign. Psychological triggers, memorable experiences, visual storytelling and connecting through emotions are important aspects of telling a captivating story and, eventually converting more leads. [How Emotional Targeting Converts More Leads]

Guerilla Multifamily Marketing

Use innovative “mobile” marketing methods to entice your target demographic: Food Trucks! The increasing presence of food trucks in the proximity of student activities provides multifamily leasing agents with an opportunity to draw in potential leasers. This also provides a cost-effective way to close the gap of lead-to-lease time for multifamily businesses. [Mobile Marketing: Reaching Students by ‘Food’ Truck]

Email Marketing

If you want a response to your email, then simply ask for it, loud and clear! Get the attention of your reader through clear, straight-forward and succinct messaging. Implementing simple tricks such as “Start your message with a clear request”, “Use Emotion”, and “Stay in the Sweet Spot when it comes to Length” will increase the probability of a response to your email. [9 Surprisingly Simple Ways To Get People To Respond To Your Email by Stephanie Vozza]

Content Marketing

Fresh ideas are always all around us, and they don’t have to be original. Great ideas and creations creep into our minds through other related and un-related ideas as opposed to being born out of a light-bulb moment. Flooded with ideas from the media and the Internet, the art of finding ideas can be about how to tweak an existing idea to form a fresh one. [The Art of Finding Ideas by Robert Bruce]

]]>http://hy.ly/blog/best-reads-for-multifamily-marketers-04082016/feed/0Multifamily Guest Cards: Are We Paving the Cow Paths Once Again?http://hy.ly/blog/multifamily-guest-cards-are-we-paving-the-cow-paths-once-again/
http://hy.ly/blog/multifamily-guest-cards-are-we-paving-the-cow-paths-once-again/#respondThu, 10 Mar 2016 04:08:10 +0000http://hy.ly/?p=2992The Story of Paving the Cow Paths The story of the multifamily guest card is similar to the story of paving the cow paths. Anyone who has been to downtown Boston sees that the streets are winding, twisting, and meandering. These meandering streets reflect the paths taken by cows in colonial America, as they moved […]

The story of the multifamily guest card is similar to the story of paving the cow paths.

Anyone who has been to downtown Boston sees that the streets are winding, twisting, and meandering. These meandering streets reflect the paths taken by cows in colonial America, as they moved from pasture to pasture. Three and half centuries later, these cow paths are now the streets of Boston.

This story is wonderfully captured in the poem The Calf Path, written by Sam Walter Foss. We start with a wandering calf that travels down a dirt path:

One day through the primeval wood
A calf walked home as good calves should;
But made a trail all bent askew,
A crooked trail as all calves do.
Since then three hundred years have fled,
And I infer the calf is dead.

But still he left behind his trail,
And thereby hangs my moral tale.
The trail was taken up next day,
By a lone dog that passed that way;
And then a wise bell-wether sheep
Pursued the trail o’er vale and steep,
And drew the flock behind him, too,
As good bell-wethers always do.
And from that day, o’er hill and glade.
Through those old woods a path was made.

It wasn’t just the animals. Humans soon discovered these calf paths, made them into a village street, and then it became a central street of the metropolis three and a half centuries later.

The years passed on in swiftness fleet,
The road became a village street;
And this, before men were aware,
A city’s crowded thoroughfare.
And soon the central street was this
Of a renowned metropolis;
And men two centuries and a half,
Trod in the footsteps of that calf.

Cow Paths and Multifamily Guest Cards

The expression ‘Paving the Cow Paths’ has come to symbolize blind automation that does not take advantages of the new medium. It seems as though the multifamily guest card has followed the same footsteps as the cow path.

First Came Paper Guest Cards

It seems as though the multifamily guest card has followed the same footsteps as the cow path.

When multifamily guest cards were first created, they were intended to be filled out on a paper guest card with a pencil. At this time, that single card had to capture all the information about the prospect. This led to guest cards that look like the one below. Note, it has 35 fields shown, and there are many more once you turn over the other side.

Then, the Paper Guest Card Moved to the Web

Soon, we had the web-based guest card copying the fields in the paper-based guest cards. Even though there’s enough evidence that a large number of fields reduces the response rate, we still insisted on packing as many fields as possible on the guest card. For example, reducing the number of fields from 11 to 4 increases the response rate by 160%.

And yet, it is common to see examples of guest cards with fields of 14 or more:

And Finally, We Have the Paper Guest Card on Mobile

As if the torture of entering 14 fields was not enough, we decided to cramp that experience on a 3×5 inch screen with barely two inches to enter 14 fields.

Conclusion

And so, here we are. We have a sub-optimal guest card experience on many properties.

Fortunately, there are many others that have moved beyond paving the cow path of a paper guest card. In our next post, we will walk you through the guest card experience, provided by the multifamily management companies that have modernized the right way.

]]>http://hy.ly/blog/multifamily-guest-cards-are-we-paving-the-cow-paths-once-again/feed/0Prioritize Email over Social Media for Your Lead-to-Lease Funnelhttp://hy.ly/blog/prioritize-email-over-social-media-for-your-lead-to-lease-funnel/
http://hy.ly/blog/prioritize-email-over-social-media-for-your-lead-to-lease-funnel/#respondTue, 23 Feb 2016 12:42:02 +0000http://hy.ly/?p=2151With all the hype surrounding social media, it may be difficult to believe that email is more effective than social media. But if you are moving your prospects through the lead-to-lease funnel, this is indeed the case. Email has four advantages over social media: Your email has a far higher reach than on social media. […]

]]>With all the hype surrounding social media, it may be difficult to believe that email is more effective than social media. But if you are moving your prospects through the lead-to-lease funnel, this is indeed the case.

Email has four advantages over social media:

Your email has a far higher reach than on social media.

You have greater ownership of your message.

You own your audience.

You have a better quality audience and email has a higher ROI.

Read on for more on each of the above.

Four Reasons Why Email Rules

1. Email Has a Far Higher Reach than on Social Media

Not only is organic reach low for Facebook, but it has dropped by almost 50 percent over four months from October 2013 to February 2014.

Marshall Manson with Social@Ogilvy describes how Facebook’s average organic reach of content is as low as 2.11% for pages with more than 500K likes. Compare this with almost 100% reach of a sent email. Not only is organic reach low for Facebook, but it has dropped by almost 50 percent over four months from October 2013 to February 2014. We presume it has kept dropping since.

Email provides a far higher reach than on social media. While there is no guarantee that your prospect will read your message, they will at least be exposed to your brand every time you send a message.

2. Greater Ownership of Message

You have greater ownership of the message in your emails.

Email gives you complete control over the length of content, size of images, number of calls-to-action, etc. You also have control over text color, text size, message formatting, style, etc. As an added bonus, others cannot distract your readers with their unsolicited comments.

None of this can be controlled on a social network because they restrict the format and styles of your message.

3. You Own the Audience

With email, you own your audience. Here are two examples of how owning your audience can help you craft the right message for the right target:

Let’s imagine Mary gave you her email address and liked you on Facebook. We want to introduce Mary to the community, but we don’t want to post repetitive welcome messages to a broad audience on Facebook. We can use a series of welcome emails specifically targeted to Mary to introduce her to the community. This will introduce her to the community without annoying others on Facebook.

Now consider John who is interested in renting out your property. A special offer could give him the extra push he needs to sign the lease, but you don’t want to give that deal to everyone on Facebook. You can send an email targeted to John, so that only he receives the offer. This prevents you from giving the same discount to everyone on Facebook.

4. You Have a Better Quality Audience, and Email has Higher ROI.

Email provides a better quality audience. The term “quality” refers to how well you have built your audience to match your market. Email allows you to produce better results for personalizing your communication, and thus resulting in a higher return on investment.

According to the 2013 Audience Growth Survey, email has a higher quality audience and a better ROI than Facebook. It may not have the quantity of social media, but it is a classic case of quality over quantity.

Think of email from this perspective. According to Priit Kallas, “Email is like a phone book of your friends, but social media is more like a casual acquaintance.”

Conclusion

Email Simply Works Better

While social media is an indispensable tool, email is the best way to move your prospects through your lead-to-lease funnel. Email has a far higher reach, gives you greater ownership of your message and audience, and delivers a better quality audience with a higher return-on-investment.

How has your experience shaped your view on email vs. social media? Send us your stories at ideas@hy.ly.

]]>http://hy.ly/blog/prioritize-email-over-social-media-for-your-lead-to-lease-funnel/feed/0The Art & Science of Offering Incentives to Get More Multifamily Leaseshttp://hy.ly/blog/the-art-science-of-offering-incentives-to-get-more-multifamily-leases/
http://hy.ly/blog/the-art-science-of-offering-incentives-to-get-more-multifamily-leases/#respondWed, 17 Feb 2016 13:01:30 +0000http://hy.ly/?p=2136Incentives drive leases We all know that incentives drive leases. Here is some research to back that up. In “How Important Are Rental Incentives to Attracting Prospects?,” incentives are one of the key factors in the decision to move or stay put by 28 percent of respondents. In “Survey Reveals the Best Incentives for Retaining […]

We all know that incentives drive leases. Here is some research to back that up. In “How Important Are Rental Incentives to Attracting Prospects?,” incentives are one of the key factors in the decision to move or stay put by 28 percent of respondents. In “Survey Reveals the Best Incentives for Retaining Tenants,” a survey of more than 4,500 respondents, discounts on rent were discovered as the most preferred monetary incentive.

How do we create incentives that lead to more leases, but not lower revenues?

Even though incentives drive leases, giving too many incentives will lower revenues to the property owners. So, how do we create incentives that lead to more leases, but not lower revenues?

In this post, we discuss a two-pronged strategy:

1. Identify Target Prospects for Incentives

We leave money on the table by offering an incentive to all prospects. By offering every prospect an incentive to lease, you are reducing rents from prospects who would sign a lease without any rebates.

You can use the power of list segmentation to create a subgroup of prospects that are on the cusp of closing. Your criteria may vary, but a good start of criteria could be based on the following.

Desired Move-In Date: If the move-in date is in less than 60 days, they are more likely to accept the incentive and sign the lease.

Have They Toured Your Property?: If they have toured your property, they are more likely to sign a lease.

Are They A New Prospect?: If they just became a prospect, they may not be ready to accept an incentive.

2. Email Incentives to Target Leads

Once we have created a narrow list of prospects that are on the cusp of closing, we can send them incentives through an automated nurturing campaign. Here are ideas for some incentives:

Idea #1: $250 off Your First Rent

Reward your prospects with a discount off of their first month’s rent. In this example, we suggest taking $250 off your prospect’s first month’s rent. Discuss with your team the specific discount amount that you would like to use in your email offer. (Download Template)

Idea #2: Offer Discounts on Your Exclusive Amenities

If your property offers special discounts on exclusive amenities which your competitors do not have, let your prospects know! For instance, offer two free sessions to your new yoga-meditation studio. (Download Template)

Other Incentive Ideas

Starbucks Coupon: Everyone likes Starbucks, right? In this example, you are providing your prospect with a free coupon to the local Starbucks coffee shop near or at your community.

First Month Free on Special Service: If your community provides special services like doggy day care, plant watering or valet parking, you can offer the first month free for these services. This incentive will not only get the prospect to sign the lease, but they may also continue these services after the first month.

Conclusion

By emailing offers and incentives to a narrow group of prospects that are on the cusp of closing, you will be able to get more leases without a reduction of rental fees to the property owners.

Before you know it, your ready-to-lease prospects will be calling you to ask if they can sign the next day. You’re welcome!